Lionsgate's The Hunger-Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 was the easy victor at the otherwise soft Thanksgiving box office, earning $82.7 million to score the third-best gross of all time for the five-day holiday, not accounting for inflation. The penultimate installment in the YA film franchise has now earned $225.7 million in North America and $480 million worldwide.

Domestically, however, it still continues to trail well behind last year's The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which finished Thanksgiving with $296.3 million in North American ticket sales.

New entries Penguins of Madagascar and R-rated comedy Horrible Bosses 2 both did less business than expected after opening Wednesday, helping to explain why overall revenue was down more than 20 percent from last Thanksgiving. Horrible Bosses 2 in particular came in well behind projections, although it sports a relatively modest production budget of $40 million.

From DreamWorks Animation, Penguins took in $36 million for the five days, one of the lowest numbers for an animated film opening over Thanksgiving, not accounting for inflation, although it did best fellow DreamWorks' ill-fated Rise of the Guardians ($32.3 million). The movie's opening isn't good news for Jeffrey Katzenberg's company, and will need strong legs.

The $132 million family film, coming in No. 2 and a spinoff of the popular Madagascar franchise, is directed by Eric Darnell and Simon J. Smith. The voice cast includes John Malkovich, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom McGrath, Christopher Knights, Chris Miller, Conrad Vernon, Peter Stormare, Ken Jeong and Annet Mahendru. Penguins did earn an A- CinemaScore, which could help fuel word of mouth, or at least that's the hope.

Making life undeniably difficult for Penguins was Disney holdover Big Hero 6 , which continued to prosper in its fourth weekend, grossing roughly $26 million for the five days to come in No. 3.

From New Line and Warner Bros., Horrible Bosses 2 grossed $23 million for the five days to come in No. 4. The first Horrible Bosses opened to $28.2 million on its way to earning a stellar $209.6 million worldwide.

Heading into the weekend, tracking suggested Horrible Bosses 2 would gross $35 million or more, while Penguins was expected to take in between $40 million and $45 million.

Directed this time out by Sean Anders, Horrible Bosses 2 re-teams most of the original cast, including Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis, whose characters set out to start their own business, only to be swindled. Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx, Chris Pine, Christoph Waltz and Kevin Spacey also star.

As awards season heats up, there was a slew of offerings for adults at the specialty box office, including director Morten Tyldum's The Imitation Game, which The Weinstein Co. debuted Friday in New York and Los Angeles.

The biopic, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, did huge business, earning $482,000 for a location average of $120,500, the second-best showing of the year after The Grand Budapest Hotel ($220,000) and among the fifth best of all time.

Next Up: The horror pic The Pyramid follows a team of U.S. archaeologists that unearths an ancient pyramid buried deep beneath the Egyptian desert. As they search the its depths, they become hopelessly lost in its dark and endless catacombs. Searching for a way out, they become desperate to seek daylight again. Soon they come to realize they aren't just trapped, they are being hunted.

The story follows a woman (Reese Witherspoon) who falls into reckless and destructive behavior following her own divorce and the death of her mother. She makes a rash decision - to hike more than 1,000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, alone. In the process she reclaims her life.

Based on neuroscientist and author Lisa Genova's debut novel--Still Alice follows Alice Howland (Julianne Moore), a fiercely independent 50-year-old Harvard University psychology professor at the height of her career. She soon begins to notice lapses in her memory and receives a diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's Disease She soon must come to terms with it and the ways in which it will change her life.

The comedy Life Partners follows co-dependent friendship between two very different girls — type-A Paige (Gillian Jacobs) and lesbian slacker Sasha (Leighton Meester). Paige has vowed that she won’t get married until Sasha has the same legal right and that works out fine until Paige meets Tim (Adam Brody), a young and charming doctor.

Gyllenhaal dropped 25 pounds for Dan Gilroy's
"Nightcrawler," looking very gaunt and malnourished in his role as a sociopathic freelance crime photographer.

Once production wrapped, he went to work building his body back
up for the drama. Gaining 15 pounds of
muscle back on the actor endured workouts twice a day, seven days a week . As a result, he got extra
ripped.

Talking to Deadline about the actor's commitment to the film, Fuqua says:

"I asked
this guy from day one, 'I need you in the gym every day. I need you to
train every day.' And I said, 'The word is sacrifice.' Literally. I
think he broke up with his girlfriend because he was just in the gym
every day. He was training like a fighter. I had him sparring, really
getting hit. I put him in situations where I wanted to see what he was
made of. No one but fighters understand the sacrifice it takes to be a
fighter.”

At one point in time during development of "Guardians of the Galaxy,"
the popular Marvel cosmic character Nova (aka. Richard
Rider), was
slated to appear in the film. There are drafts of the script however saw
him being jettisoned, with only a few pieces of concept art from
earlier this year giving us an idea of what might have been.

"I don't want Nova right now because I think Quill being
the only earthling is important. That serves the entire movie-going
audience and not just the handful of Nova fans. Sorry if that upsets
you. I have nothing against Nova in future movies, but it doesn't serve
the movie right this moment."

"To me, she’s the Boba Fett of the movie. She's the one that you really
dig because she's the cool one that we need to get more of. I hope to
god that we get a chance to see a lot more of Nebula [in future
'Guardians' films]."

The first film has its disc release on December 9th--a week after hitting VOD--It's already available digitally. "Guardins 2" is set for release on July 28th 2017

"I'm definitely not in [Episode VII]. As
you know, he's dead by then. I know, we believe in reincarnation,
and holograms… But you know, they are going to take many twists on
the story as the years go on, and I guess they may go back to a time -
I've got no clue, I'm speaking off the top of my head - when the
Emperor ran the universe. And I don't want anyone else to play him,
do I?"

In a recent post Latino Review claims that Palpatine is part of the new trilogy after all--though played by another actor...

James Earl Jones, the man behind the voice of Star Wars villain Darth Vader was asked by Variety recently about the possibility of playing the character in more films, perhaps one of the Spin-Off Films for example set before "Return of the Jedi". He said: "Oh no. I've got no illusions that I will or even hankerings to be in them, but I'm very proud to have been part of the original."

While the character was rumored to be getting a solo film last month--Cinelinx posts that the studios are developing a separate trilogy of spin-off films dedicated to the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi--set between the prequel and original trilogy. Their source says:

"First up, they are not talking about an
Obi-Wan spin-off movie but a trilogy of Obi-Wan movies . I need to
stress that these movies are not connected. They aren't part of a
story arc but three separate Obi-Wan adventures set between Episodes
III and IV. It seems like the three movie ideas are as follows: One set
completely on Tatooine and two where Obi-Wan travels elsewhere in the Galaxy. Qui-Gon Jinn is very much present in these stories. So too is Owen Lars . Several characters from the 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars' TV Series would make an appearance. There would be flashbacks to Obi-Wan fighting in the Clone Wars."

Kasdan and Kinberg would also join the projects as producers with Kennedy.

Series MVP composer John Williams is set to score the film as well as Episode VIII and Episode IX.
There was a scheduled two-week production hiatus in August to allow for adjustments in the shooting schedule following Ford's recovery from that injury where he broke his left leg. The injury is also said to have happened during filming on a top secret set rather than on the Millennium Falcon set as was widely reported.

I want to introduce you to 2 time author and nurse Kelly Varesio--and no TLR hasn't suddenly become a blog about books and or health care--I have known Kelly's family for years and wanted to give her some space here. The idea has been rolling around in my head for a long time actually.

At just sixteen years old, she managed to do something that not many authors have. Kelly wrote Insperatus, her first novel, from ideas that she had thought about for years--She infused the tale with historical accuracy in an effort to create realism. I have read the first book and thought the arc of Rein and Traith had a very cinematic feel to it. The recently engaged Kelly is, as you'll discover, a very bright family oriented person who is not afraid to express herself...

Tell my readers a little bit about yourself. When did you catch the bug to write?
I've been writing since I can remember! I always wrote and illustrated stories when I was little; in 3rd grade, that was all I did with my spare time, and it never really stopped from there. Comemiddleschool, I started writing something that I assumed would be another of my short stories - until it ended up at 15 pages long which was insane for 7th grade, then grew to 30 after my first round of editing, then 100... and that became my first novel, Insperatus

.
Which Writers(s) had the greatest influence on you and Why?
This is actually a hard question. Believe it or not, I was never actually a huge reader. As I got older I began to fall in love with classic literature by The Brontë Sisters and Jane Austen (Jane Eyre is her favorite book of all time). I adored classic horror novels too, like Frankenstein and The Invisible Man; I love the connection between history and the supernatural or unusual. Those things, in addition to the fact that I grew up on 90's superhero shows like Gargoyles and X-Men, which really made their mark on me while every other little girl was watching My Little Pony.

How did Insperatus come about? What inspired you to write it?
It's a funny story. One of my best friends and I took a weekend trip to some hotel where we were playing in a pool, pretending we were on some grand adventure. I had always been a storyteller, and the outlets I used (mostly playing with her) consisted of role-playing or Barbies. We decided to make up characters - first it was just Rein (me) and Saria (her). Then we started playing a game that magically weaved into a story that I liked so much, it needed to be written down. I drew every character we made up, started a plot, developed their backstories, and decided I needed to learn more about the history--I wanted it to take place in the 1840s. It took off from there.

This kind of story is everywhere in pop culture--What makes your tale different? Why should people read the book?
Insperatus IS vastly different from other vampire tales out there. What most people don't realize when they see my book is that it was written before Twilight even existed - before such stories were even popular! When I first started my story, I had no concept of vampires aside from the classic Draculatale, which I adored. I made a point never to watch Twilight, Vampire Diaries, or any other teen vampire fads because I didn't want anyone to have grounds to say I copied another idea.
But in short? Insperatus is it's own brand of paranormal romance. It takes place in England, in the 1840s; were it not for the supernatural elements, it would be a historical romance. I utilized the more traditional concepts developed by Stoker, and even created some of my own. Without giving too much away, Insperatus centers on vampires, but the more you read, you realize that there is a larger picture of dark and light; two councils, representing good and evil - which include many other supernatural beings and creatures aside from vampires. Vampires are represented as being afflicted people, cursed, but still human. But evolution can occur. Curses can be intertwined. And despite my age when I wrote it, Insperatus was always meant for adults, not teens. The characters are older, and the plot is much bigger than some high school love story. I guarantee there isn't another novel like it.Talk about the best and worst day of the writing process
Best day? Sitting with a cup of coffee (nowadays maybe a glass of wine instead) with some violin music and a good storm, while submersing myself in another world fabricated from my mind. It's so much fun to be able to lose yourself like that, getting into a character's mind and feeling what they feel. It's all I do with my free time.

Worst day? Besides writer's block--it's awful and feels like it will last forever, going through the publication process and then marketing the books. I write because I enjoy it; the fact that other people enjoy it too is just a bonus. I was never looking to make money or gather a fan base - while both would be great, there can be so much maintenance in marketing that it loses the fun. I love to write. Everything else that comes of it,I just try to enjoy in the moment!

What's the reaction been like to the book overall? The reaction was wonderful. I had all the support in the world. As a teenager, my parents and family were so proud that I was able to achieve something like that they promote it however and whenever they can (more than I do, honestly). My friends have been amazing too.

What was the biggest surprise to you while writing or after the book was published?
I think the biggest surprise is always the ending - even to the author. You have this outline, these ideas, and you know where you want them to go, but somehow the story always ends up taking on a mind of its own and things inevitably change to accommodate. Once that ending is put on, it's amazing to sit back and take in how it all came together, after 400+ pages and years of writing. Somehow, it just ends, with a bow on top. It's super gratifying, and certainly always surprising.

Since this is a film blog--If you had the chance to cast the film version of your book who would star as the main characters and why?

I love this question! I'm a closet celebrity stalker for this very reason. Sticking with my two main characters, I look at stars like Megan Fox, Olivia Wilde, and Lynn Collins as good representations of Rein. For Traith, I always thought thelate Paul Walker or Scott Porter. If nothing else, matching celebrities to my characters allows me the closest thing to a true visual I'll ever get of my characters, aside from my drawings. Trust me, I could go on with choices A, B, C, and so on for every one of the dozen characters!

Talk about your love of Comic Books--where did that come from? Favorites? Your opinion of films based on comics heroes.I love Marvelcomics! I even told my fiance I need a Marvel room somewhere in our new house. I was my Dad's tomboy; I watched superhero shows with him, read comic biographies as bedtime stories with him, and went to Comic Cons with him since I was little. I always loved to watch such powerful women which definitely leaks into my writing, especially when they could use afflictions like mutant powers to help humanity. I thought I WAS Rogue--her name is my car license plate now. She is strong and sexy at the same time, stoic and honorable - it was something I strove for as a kid and still do as an adult. To be a superhero.

Although it isn't Marvel, one of my favorite comic series was G.I. JOEby Devil's Due.Scarlettwas another strong female presence who was in love with a scarred, voiceless man and somehow saved the day with the team in each issue. She's as cool as it gets. Getting back to Marvel, I read many mini-series like "Rogue," "Tigra," and "Hawkeye & Mockingbird." I'm currently reading Uncanny Avengers
The newest films like Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America, and Guardians of the Galaxy are awesome, and had very little deviation overall from the comics in my opinion. Looking back at the movies they did of my absolute favorite superhero team of all time - "X-Men" - I wanted to kill someone when I watched thattrilogy, and even the new ones. I am still livid about how far the X-Men films strayed from the original comic plot. Not to mention my favorite white-streaked brunette is a helpless pansy and[played by a]terrible actress...(Anna Paquin)but I digress.

Your chance to say anything else...or talk about your future plans There are always future plans! While the Insperatus & Infectusare ended as a pair, I am now working on a new novel that is strictly historical and based out of the American Civil War. I don't think I'll ever stop writing novels at this point, and I can tell you that I certainly have enough material to go on for years! Thanks for this interview, and I want to encourage everyone to like my Facebook page "Insperatus by Kelly Varesio," and also check out my website, www.kellyvaresio.com. Reviews are as good as gold for authors, so I like to throw that in too!

You are very welcome! Congrats on your engagement. Best wishes to you and Daniel. Thanks for taking the time.

Danny Boyle is eyed to replace David Fincher in the big chair. DiCaprio and Boyle made The Beach together that released in 2000. Fincher and Sony Pictures were at odds over his aggressive demands for compensation and control of the biopic. Ironically Fincher wanted to have Bale to play Jobs in the film. The studio looked at Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Bradley Cooper for the title role after Leo's exit. Boyle is due to meet with actors this week for the movie. Seth Rogen is in talks to join the biopic playing co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Talking at the Hero Summit he says "this entire movie is going to be three scenes, and three scenes only, that all take place in real time."

All three thirty-minute scenes will be "set right before three major product launches." Those three products? The original Macintosh computer in 1984, the NeXT Cube in 1990, and the first generation iPod in 2001. Sorkin finished the script earlier this year.

There's no details as to who Portman is playing, though it's suggested the role could be either marketing maven Joanna Hoffman, or the role of Steve Jobs' daughter whom Sorkin describes as the "heroine of the movie".

Recently Scott
reportedly indicated that the script is done and he confirms Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard character is a part of the action:

"We talked at length about what it could be, and came up
with a pretty strong three-act storyline, and it all makes sense in
terms of how it relates to the first one. Harrison is very much part of
this one, but really it's about finding him; he comes in in the third
act."

Scott is gearing up for cameras to roll on "The Martian"
which will take up much of his time next year and then he moves on to Prometheus 2 in late 2015/early 2016. "Blade Runner 2" is
also slated to film next year, the scheduling has always seemed a bit muddled --something had to give .

The original 2012 film which took in $254 million worldwide dealt with the generational gap between Dracula and his young 118-year-old daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) who wants to see the world and is attracted to the hapless human Jonathan (Andy Samberg).

In the sequel, a family reunion causes Vlad to visit the estranged son he hasn't seen in years, in the process turning everyone's life upside down.

Bale tells Empire (via CBM)
that when he first heard the news of Warner Bros making another Batman film, he he admits that he was speechless:

"I've got to admit initially, even though I felt that it
was the right time to stop, there was always a bit of me going, 'Oh go
on... Let's do another'. So when I heard there was someone else doing
it, there was a moment where I just stopped and stared into nothing for
half an hour."

The studio is going with an older and more burned
out Batman for Ben to play in the new film, coupled with the fact that it's an entirely
different DC Cinematic Universe than the Dark Knight Films occupied. Even so, Bale still cares about the character and has already been in touch
with Affleck to offer advice:

"I'm 40. The fact that I'm jealous of someone else
playing Batman... I think I should have gotten over it by now. I haven't
spoken with Ben, but I emailed him offering bits of advice that I
learned the hard way. I would imagine he is doing everything he can to
avoid anything that I did."

The film deals with Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, computer scientist, criminally prosecuted and chemically castrated homosexual, and tortured soul who committed suicide by eating a cyanide-laced apple. Turing was highly influential in the founding of computer science and artificial intelligence, along with devising techniques for breaking German ciphers during the World War II. He was also one of the earliest to explore the biological process of morphogenesis.

There's something for (mostly) everyone at the Thanksgiving box office.

New Line and Warner Bros.' R-rated comedy Horrible Bosses 2 will go after younger adults and older teens looking for a laugh, while Penguins of Madagascar, a spinoff of DreamWorks Animation's popular Madagascar franchise, hopes to nab families. Both begin rolling out Tuesday night in North America before playing everywhere on Wednesday, a popular day for moviegoing.

The other main Thanksgiving attraction is a teaser trailer for J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The 88-second tease will begin playing Friday morning in 30 theaters across the country — before every showing of every movie.

In term of sheer might, holdover The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 should easily win the five-day turkey race with a gross in the $80 million range, including an estimated $50 million to $55 million for the weekend. Last Thanksgiving, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire likewise topped the holiday frame after opening the week before.

Jeffrey Katzenberg's DWA needs a box-office success, and while Penguins certainly won't match the $94.6 million grossed by Disney's Frozen last Thanksgiving, it should post a solid five-day gross in the $45 million-$47 million range, including a weekend take of $32 million to $34 million. (Disney's Big Hero 6 continues to hold well, however, and could take a bite out of Penguins.)

Horrible Bosses 2 is looking like a clear winner for New Line and Warner Bros. The sequel, one of the few R-rated comedies to ever dare opening on Thanksgiving, could gross $35 million to $40 million for the five days, if not more. For the weekend itself, it could gross $23 million to $25 million. The first Horrible Bosses opened to $28.2 million in summer 2011 on its way to earning a stellar $209.6 million worldwide.

Directed this time out by Sean Anders (Sex Tape), Horrible Bosses 2 reteams most of the original cast, including Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis, whose characters set out to start their own business, only to be swindled. Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx, Chris Pine, Christoph Waltz and Kevin Spacey also star.

As awards season heats up, there's a slew of offerings for adults at the specialty box office including Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything, which will be playing in roughly 700 theaters by Thanksgiving Day. Other awards contenders in the marketplace include holdovers Birdman, Foxcatcher, Whiplash and Boyhood, while The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, opens Friday in New York and Los Angeles.

Birdman, Boyhood and Whiplash could also enjoy a boost this weekend after scoring key Independent Spirit Nominations (Birdman lead with six noms).

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

The project is described as Peter Pan (Newcomer Levi Miller) by way of "Batman Begins" in
a story exploring the origins of the character and how he came to be
the boy who never grew up. In this incarnation, an orphan is taken to
the magical world of Neverland where he becomes the savior of the
natives and leads a rebellion against evil pirates.

Hugh Jackman will play the evil pirate captain Blackbeard. The studio had gone to Javier Bardem for the role but the actor passed and then started courting Jackman shortly after that. Garrett Hedlund beat out Jack Huston and Ezra Miller for the role of Hook. In this version, Hook is one of Pan's allies who ultimately ends up turning against him - ultimately becoming the villain Captain Hook.

Warner Bros had gone to Javier Bardem for the Blackbeard role but the actor passed and then started courting Jackman shortly after that.

The events are said to take place Isla Nublar, the site of John Hammond's (the late Richard Attenborough)
Jurassic Park theme park, rather than Isla Sorna of the two
previous sequels. "Jurassic World" lays the groundwork of story
arcs that could be carried into future installments of the film series.

Earlier this month rumors suggested that we will see that transformation in "Captain America: Civil War" and that the character could also turn out to be the main villain in the solo "Black Panther" film.

Speaking with EW, he confirmed he recently received a call from the suits about their plans for the next film:

"[The Winter Soldier] was only a taste of what's to come with the next film, and I couldn't be more humbled and excited. They just kind of called and said, 'What kind of shape are you in? We're going to need a body scan.' They scan your body so that whatever you wear fits you like a glove."

He also says that he's already making plans to beef up for the role ahead of filming which begins in a few months:

"He's a badass. He is just vicious. I like the idea that it's no holds barred. I was 15 pounds bigger when I did Cap 2, and I'll put another 15 pounds on to do Cap 3. I love the physicality. It changes the way you look; it changes the way you feel. We all know what Crossbones represents in his world, so when they called me and said we gotta do the body scan, I was like 'Okay!'"

The 3rd Cap film will be an adaptation ofthe Captain America: Civil War storyline that sees Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) at odds with Captain America (Chris Evans) over the Superhero Registration Act - a law that forces anyone with superhuman abilities to reveal their identities to the U.S. government and agree to act as a police force for the authorities. Stark supports the program, Rogers does not because it threatens civil liberties. As a result Rogers and various others go on the run to avoid arrest. The life of Cap's girlfriend, Agent 13 (Revenge star Emily VanCamp), is torn apart as her superiors use her divided loyalties against her. Elsewhere, a new villain emerges; the Red Skull begins to make himself known; and The Winter Soldier(Sebastian Stan) again comes face-to-face with Cap....

Badass Digest says that despite the presence of RDJ's in the film Stan's Winter Soldier is still a central figure in the action.